Improved apparatus for scouring greasy wool

ABSTRACT

Improved scouring equipment for greasy wool includes an assembly of cleansing apparatus arranged in series. Each apparatus is provided with means for scouring greasy wool fibers in their opened condition while carrying in a scouring liquid and a pair of press rollers for squeezing the scouring liquid contained in the wool fibers. The used liquid is separated from the residue sand or other impurities deposited on the bottom of a scouring bath and discharged from an outlet of a separate passage formed along a sidewall of the scouring bath by being flowed upward from the bottom of the bath. The discharged scouring liquid is used in a similar way as that of the conventional scouring equipment, while the deposited sand or other impurities are discharged from the scouring bath.

United States Patent Terasawa et al.

[451 Jan. 25, 1972 IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SCOURING GREASY WOOL Toyo Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, Japan Filed: Oct. 10, 1969 Appl. No.2 865,356

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 28, 1968 Japan ..43/96l02 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,008,426 1 1/19 1 1 in s ;z

2,442,012 5/l948 Leonard 8/156 3,199,126 8/1965 Chaikin et al.

3,454,970 7/1969 Sutherland ..68/45 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 67,279 3/l 893 Germany ..68/45 Primary ExaminerWilliam l. Price Attorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato [5 7] ABSTRACT Improved scouring equipment for greasy wool includes an assembly of cleansing apparatus arranged in series. Each apparatus is provided with means for scouring greasy wool fibers in their opened condition while carrying in a scouring liquid and a pair of press rollers for squeezing the securing liquid contained in the wool fibers. The used liquid is separated from the residue sand or other impurities deposited on the bottom of a scouring bath and discharged from an outlet of a separate passage formed along a sidewall of the scouring bath by being flowed upward from the bottom of the bath. The discharged scouring liquid is used in a similar way as that of the conventional scouring equipment, while the deposited sand or other impurities are discharged from the scouring bath.

9 Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figures PATENTED amzsmz 3336.736

sum 1 or 4 PATENTEUJANZSISIZ (636,736

'snmaura PATENTEUJANZSIQIZ 353 7 sum 3 OF 4 PATENTEI] JAN 2 5 i972 SHEET U 0F 4 IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SCOURING GREASY WOOL The present invention relates to an improvement in equipment for scouring greasy wool and more particularly relates to novel equipment provided with a set of several scouring units for scouring wool by applying repeated operations comprising scouring greasy wool fibers in their opened condition in a scouring liquid and then squeezing out the scouring liquid contained in the wool fibers by a pair of press rollers.

It is well known in the textile industry that the thoroughness of the scouring of greasy wool affects considerably the quality of the spun product.

The equipment most commonly used in wool scouring plants is the Macnote machine and modified versions thereof. Such machines comprise a series of long tanks containing a bath of scouring liquid. Each tank has a false bottom consisting of a screen located horizontally below the surface of the bath and with rakes operated mechanically to feed the wool slowly toward its delivery end. At that end, the wool is fed between squeeze rolls from which it drops into the next bowl ahead of it in the line. At the last tank the rolls deliver the wool to a conveyor which carries it through a drying mechanism. Undesirably this process can cause felting of the wool leading to difficulties in subsequent carding and combing operations.

In another process, the wool is floated in the scouring liquid in a bowl and while floating it is propelled by directing sprays of scouring liquid against it at such an angle as to move it in the desired direction. After being moved in the bowl, the wool is passed through and between squeeze rollers. These operations are repeated in subsequent bowls until the desired degree of scouring has been attained. While this process minimizes felting of the wool, it suffers from three drawbacks. One, it does not efficiently remove all the sand from the wool. Two, a bath of very large capacity is required. Three, clogging of thespray nozzles is quite frequent.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved and practical apparatus for scouring greasy wool, thereby eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks of the above-discussed process.

Many other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein;

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a first unit of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, with portions broken away.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a scouring device according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a mounting mechanism for a scouring device.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the scouring device taken along line VV of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of the device shown in FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are top plan views of scouring tanks used in the apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view partly broken away of the device shown in FIG. 78.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the scouring of a single wool fiber.

FIG. 10 is a side view of carrying mechanism for the apparatus shown in FIG. I.

In the set of scouring equipment, using a plurality of scouring apparatuses shown in FIG. 1, the greasy wool is supplied upon a conveyor belt of a feeder 1 further comprising a horizontal lattice, a vertical lattice and a spiked wheel so that the greasy wool is opened and next, the opened greasy wool is supplied to an opening machine 2. To supply a constant volume of the opened wool to the opening machine 2, a comb disposed to the feeder l in such a way that the intervened space between the spiked lattice and a stripping roller is closely disposed upon the spiked lattice so as to strip the carried wool from the stripping lattice, in the same manner as the conventional equipment. The opened greasy wool is further opened by a rotating cylinder of the opening machine 2 provided with numerous spikes mounted on the cylindrical surface thereof and then supplied to a first scouring apparatus 3. The arrangement of the feeder I and the opening machine 2 may be changed if required. In this embodiment, five scouring apparatuses are arranged in a set, each scouring apparatus comprising a plurality of scouring units, for example three, four, five or six units. The number of these scouring apparatuses and scouring units may be changed in accordance with requirements, for example, if the greasy wool material contains extensive impurities, sand, etc., the number must be increased. In the present embodiment, the first scouring apparatus consists of five scouring units, while a second scouring apparatus is provided with six units; a third apparatus, four units; a fourth and fifth scouring apparatus, three units. The reason for the difference in the number of unit scouring apparatuses, is due to the fact that the principal effect of the first apparatus is to remove the impurities from the greasy wool and the second and third scouring apparatuses are mainly used for scouring the greasy wool and the fourth and fifth scouring apparatuses are used for cleaning by a cleaning agent and rinsing by water, respectively. A pair of press rollers 4, which are similar to the ones used for the conventional scouring equipment, are disposed at the delivery sides of each scouring apparatus 3. An automatic feeder 5 is disposed after the press roller 4 of the fifth scouring apparatus 3 for supplying a constant volume of scoured wool to a dryer 6 connected thereto. In the above-mentioned group of scouring apparatuses, an automatic control device for controlling the feeding capacity or changing speed of the feeder l is provided in order to attain the uniform drying operation by the dryer 6.

The detailed construction and function of the scouring apparatus of the present invention is hereinafter illustrated. Each scouring unit is represented by 7 in FIG. 2. A typical embodiment of the scouring unit of the present invention is provided with a pair of press rollers 22 and 23, the shaft of the press roller 23 is supported by a stationary bearing mounted on the apparatus while the shaft of the press roller 22 is supported by a slidable bearing 22a supported by a supporting means mounted on the apparatus so that the press roller 22 is always pressed against the press roller 23 (FIGS. 3 and 4). An endless conveyor belt 12 passes between these press rollers 22 and 23 of each scouring unit and is driven positively by a driving means as shown in FIG. 10. A bottom portion of the press rollers 23 and 22 is immersed into the scouring liquid contained in a scouring bath 24 shown in its plan view in FIG. 7A. The endless conveyor net 12 is also immersed into the scouring liquid contained in each scouring bath 24 temporarily during its driving. The conventional bottom frame 8 and side frame 9, which contain the conventional tank for containing the scouring liquid and container for receiving impurities such as sand and a discharging device are used for the present scouring apparatus (FIG. 2). As already explained, the bearing of the shaft for rotatably supporting the press roll 23 is secured to the frame 9 and the supporting means for supporting the press roller 22 is also mounted on this frame 9. The scouring bath 24 is further supported by this frame 9. A supporting bracket 10 is secured to the side frame 9 so that a tension guide roller I8 and a regulating roller device 11 are mounted on the supporting bracket 10. The regulating roller device 11 works to control the zigzag motion of the endless conveyor belt or perforated net 12. Therefore, the regulating roller device 11 comprises a guide roller which can be freely inclined so as to maintain the endless belt 12 in its regular operating position and is normally positioned at a perpendicular position with respect to the proceeding direction of the endlessbelt 12. The control operation of the regulating roller device 11 is so carried out, that the inclination of the guide roller thereof to the proceeding direction of the endless belt 12 is adjusted by means of an electric feeler disposed at both sides of the predetermined path of the endless-belt 12 when the feeler contacts with any side of the endless belt l2. A tension guide roller I3 is mounted on the frame 9 so that the tension guide roller 13 always operates for stretching the endless belt 12. To attain the above-mentioned stretching by the tension guide roller 13, a pair of bearings for rotatably supporting the roller 13 is slidably mounted on the frame 9 so that the bearings are always pushed toward the stretching direction of the guide roller 13. A swingable head roller 14 is supported by a pair of swing arms 15 turnably mounted to a delivery side of the frame 9 so that the head roller 14 always contacts an upper press roller which is a component of the press rollers 4. Therefore, the scoured wool can be fed to a nip portion of the press rollers 4 in a sheet condition. The arrangement and driving means of the endless belt 12 is shown in FIG. 10, that is, the endless belt 12 is sandwiched by the press rollers 22 and 23 of each scouring apparatus 7, and rotatably supported by guide rollers a, 20b disposed at an entrance or delivery positions of each apparatus and guide rollers 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d and 19a disposed under the'scouring bath 24, and driven by a positive driving of the press roller of each scouring apparatus 7. A brush roller 16 is disposed upon the upper press roller 4 so as to strip wool fibers from the roller 4 and an endless conveyor 17 is disposed between two adjacent scouring apparatuses 7 and a trough 21 is disposed under the press roller 4, as shown in FIG. 2. The side frame of the scouring apparatus 7 has a plurality of doors 48.

A plurality of projections 25, 26 are secured to the side frame of the scouring'bath 24 so that the projections 25 and 26 engage respective sleeves 44, 44a (FIGS. 3 and 6). A wide member 28 is hinged to the scouring bath 24 at its entrance position by means of a pair of brackets 27, 27a so as to lead wool into the bath 28. To attain the above-mentioned purpose, the guide member 28 has a triangular cross se'ction in direction of movement of the wool as shown in FIG. 3. To cover'the space between the guide member 28 and the press roller 22, an elastic plate made of an elastic material such as rubber or elastic synthetic resin is secured to the side of the guide member 28. Guide 28 is hinged to the bath so that if it becomes necessary to take off roller 22 from bath 24 the endless belt 12 will not be damaged by hitting guide 28. This arrangement alsomakes it possible to hold constant the space between guide 28 and belt 12. A discharging pipe for discharging the treating liquid is also disposed at a delivery side in the bottom of the bath 24.

Referring to FIG. 4, the shaft 23a of the press roller 23 is supported by a pair-of bearings 38 secured to the frame of the bath 24 and the shaft 22a of the press roller 22 is supported by a pair of bearings 40 which is slidably mounted in a pair of slide frames 45 secured to the frame of the bath 24. The slide frames 45 are always urged by a coil spring 41 mounted on a screw shaft 23 to a position between the bearing 40 and a washer 42 engaged with the screw shaft 43 so that the press roller 22 is always urged against the press roller 23 by the endless belt 12. It is preferable that the press roller 22 be covered on its cylindrical surface by an elastic material. The slide frame 45 is a kind of bracket rigidly mounted on the frame of the bath 24 and a leg 47 of a shower tray is mounted on the slide frame 45. Another leg 46 of the shower tray is also mounted on the frame of the scouring bath 24. In FIGS. 5 and 6, the construction of the scouring bath 24 and shower trays 49 and 50 are clearly shown. The scouring liquid supplied to the scouring bath 24 is mainly fed from the shower tray 49 comprising a box-shaped tray provided with a feeding pipe 52 having a plurality of apertures 52a on its upper position. Numerous small apertures 54 are formed at the bottom plate of the shower tray 49 so as to drop the scouring liquid into the scouring bath 24. An overflow outlet 53 is formed on the shower tray 49 at the side of the press roller 22 so that the overflowed scouring liquid drops on the press roller 22 at the side of the guide member 28. Therefore, the scouring liquid is sufficiently fed to the feeding pipe 52 so as to overflow in the shower tray 49. An auxiliary shower tray 50 has a similar construction as the shower tray 49, however, an overflow outlet such as the overflow outlet 53 is omitted, that is, only a plurality of outlets for dropping the scouring liquid into the bath 24 are provided. it is desirable to position the outlets of the shower tray 50 on a side of the press roller 22 rather than at a contact position of both rollers 22 and 23. In the auxiliary shower tray 50, a feeding pipe 5] for feeding the scouring liquid is disposed. The construction of this pipe 51 is similar to the pipe 52 and a control valve (not shown) is mounted on a connecting pipe of the pipe 51 so as to adjust the feeding quantity of the scouring liquid into the shower tray 50.

The scouring bath 24, shown in FIG. 7A, comprises a pair of inclined walls 30a and 30b and a pair of perpendicular sidewalls 33a and 33b and a horizontal bottom 32 so as to form an upwardly expanded bath and further, the bath 24 is provided with a separating plate disposed inside of the inclined wall 30a with a suitable intervening space so that the bottom edge 34b of the separating plate 34 is separated from the horizontal bottom 32 and the top edge 34a of the separating plate 34 is positioned at a slightly higher position than the top edge of the inclined wall 30a, whereby a bottom aperture 36a and an overflow outlet 36b are formed in the bath 24. Therefore, the scouring liquid S, containing impurities such as sand, is always discharged through the bottom aperture 36a, the intervening space between the inclined wall 30a and the separator plate 34 and the overflow outlet 36b, so that the scouring liquid S in the bath 24 can be kept in a desirable active condition during the operation. Further, it is required that the top edge 34a of the separating plate 34 and that of the inclined wall 30a are positioned lower than the contact position of both press rollers 22 and 23 so that the above-mentioned contact position is always positioned on the liquid surface of the bath 24, but the lower portion of the press roller 22 is sufficiently immersed in the scouring liquid S. A tray 37 is disposed outside of the bath 24 so that the overflowed scouring liquid from the overflow outlet 36b is received and the tray 37 is connected to a discharging conduit 29 disposed outside of the securing bath 24. The discharging conduit 29 may be provided with a discharging pump as used in the conventional apparatus. Another embodiment of the bath is shown in FIG. 7B. In this embodiment, the sidewalls 33a, 33b of the bath 24 are inclined inwards, further, the bottom of the bath 24 is separated into two small bottom plates 32a, 32b by a pyramid shaped upwardly projecting portion composed of a pair of inclined bottom plates 32c and 32d and a discharging outlet 31a or 31b may be provided to each small bottom plate 32a or 32b. This type of scouring bath 24 is preferably used only for the first scouring apparatus which is mainly required for extracting impurities such as sand or soil from the greasy wool.

The scouring operation by the above-mentioned apparatus is hereinafter described. In FIG. 9, the wool fiber W is temporarily immersed into the scouring liquid S together with the endless conveyor belt 12 and sufficiently receives the scouring action by the scouring liquid S in an opened condition while floating in the liquid S, thereby the heavy impurities such as sand or soil contained within the wool fiber passes through the endless belt 12 and precipitates into the scouring liquid S. The fresh scouring liquid is jetted from the shower tray 49 so that the wool fibers W receive suitable impart action, thereby the scouring action is effectively operated. Then, the wool fibers W are sandwiched and conveyed by the belt 12 and the press roller 22 with pressure. In the above-mentioned operation, the shower of the scouring liquid S from the shower tray 49 helpfully works to guide the wool fiber S in a downward direction in the bath 24. The scouring liquid contained in the wool fibers W is squeezed by the pressure contact of the press roller 22 with the press roller 23 so that the scouring action is effectively carried out. The shower from the auxiliary shower tray 50 operates to prevent the sticking of the wool fibers to the cylindrical surface of the press roller 22 and to supply the scouring liquid again to the squeezed wool fibers. The abovementioned scouring operation is repeated three to six times by the scouring units of each scouring apparatus 3 and repeated a suitable number of time by the scouring apparatus arranged in the continuous scouring equipment shown in FIG. 1 so that the scouring operation of the greasy wool is completed. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the main shower tray and auxiliary shower tray of each scouring unit are equipped so that the discharged scouring liquid from the second scouring apparatus is supplied to the first scouring apparatus and the discharged scouring liquid from the third scouring apparatus is supplied to the second scouring apparatus, or the discharged scouring liquid from the forward scouring unit is supplied to the preceding unit of the same scouring apparatus, as the conventional scouring equipment. Therefore, the scouring operation can be operated as economically as the conventional equipment.

As mentioned above, the scouring operation by the improved apparatus according to the present invention is carried out by temporarily immersing the wool fibers into the scouring liquid and showering the wool fiber by the scouring liquid while being carried by the endless conveyor net and squeezing the contained scouring liquid from the wool fibers between the endless belt and the press roller so as to prevent felting. As a result, the advantages of the conventional scouring apparatus applying rakes, and the apparatus applying a jet showering system can both be realized by the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for continuously scouring greasy wool fibers, comprising a plurality of scouring units arranged in series, a conveyor belt carrying said fibers through said units, each of said units having a scouring bath, an overflow outlet for discharging used scouring liquid from said bath, a first rotating press roller disposed above the liquid level in said bath, supporting means on said bath supporting a second rotatable press roller and urging same against said first roller, a bottom portion of said second roller disposed always sufficiently immersed in said liquid to ensure immersion of said fibers thereinQa contacting portion of both rollers compressing said fibers above the level of said liquid in said bath; said outlet including a separator plate spaced apart from the walls of said bath forming with said walls an outlet and a bottom opening through which scouring liquid containing impurities is continuously discharged.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plate has a top edge extending above the top edge of said bath wall so that used scouring liquid containing impurities is caused to flow through said bottom opening and flows from a top outlet spaced formed by said top edge of said plate and said top edge of said bath wall.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, having a tray connected to said outlet and a discharge conduit mounted outside of said bath, in communication with said outlet.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one scouring unit has a modified bottom on the feed side thereof, said bottom including a pair of horizontal plates and a pyramid-shaped upward projection between said plates, both sidewalls of said bath being inclined inwardly, the walls on the inlet and outlet side of said bath being also inclined inwardly and provided with a zigzag bottom edge conforming with the edges of said bottom plates and with said projection to form an upwardly enlarged bath, each of said bottom plates having an outlet for discharging heavy impurities.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said supporting means include a pair of slide frames secured to the upper part of said bath, a pair of bearings slidably mounted on said frames, and elastic means disposed inside of each frame so that each bearing is urged towards said first roller.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each unit has spray means for spraying scouring liquid into said bath.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said spray means include a pair of showering trays, one of said trays having a pipe for supplying fresh liquid thereto an apertured bottom plate, and an overflow outlet directing fresh liquid toward the entrance of said bath and on the entrance side of said second roller, the other of said trays having a pipe for supplying fresh liquid thereto and a perforated bottom plate passing liqgid to a delivery side of said second roller.

. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second roller has a covering of elastic material.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, having a guide member at the entrance side of said bath near said second roller disposed so that wool fibers are guided toward the bottom part of said second roller through a space between said conveyor belt and said guide member. 

1. Apparatus for continuously scouring greasy wool fibers, comprising a plurality of scouring units arranged in series, a conveyor belt carrying said fibers through said units, each of said units having a scouring bath, an overflow outlet for discharging used scouring liquid from said bath, a first rotating press roller disposed above the liquid level in said bath, supporting means on said bath supporting a second rotatable press roller and urging same against said first roller, a bottom portion of said second roller disposed always sufficiently immersed in said liquid to ensure immersion of said fibers therein, a contacting portion of both rollers compressing said fibers above the level of said liquid in said bath; said outlet including a separator plate spaced apart from the walls of said bath forming with said walls an outlet and a bottom opening through which scouring liquid containing impurities is continuously discharged.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plate has a top edge extending above the top edge of said bath wall so that used scouring liquid containing impurities is caused to flow through said bottom opening and flows from a top outlet spaced formed by said top edge of said plate and said top edge of said bath wall.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, having a tray connected to said outlet and a discharge conduit mounted outside of said bath, in communication with said outlet.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one scouring unit has a modified bottom on the feed side thereof, said bottom including a pair of horizontal plates and a pyramid-shaped upward projection between said plates, both sidewalls of said bath being inclined inwardly, the walls on the inlet and outlet side of said bath being also inclined inwardly and provided with a zig-zag bottom edge conforming with the edges of said bottom plates and with said projection to form an upwardly enlarged bath, each of said bottom plates having an outlet for discharging heavy impurities.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said supporting means include a pair of slide frames secured to the upper part of said bath, a pair of bearings slidably mounted on said frames, and elastic means disposed inside of each frame so that each bearing is urged towards said first roller.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each unit has spray means for spraying scouring liquid into said bath.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said spray means include a pair of showering trays, one of said trays having a pipe for supplying fresh liquid thereto an apertured bottom plate, and an overflow outlet directing fresh liquid toward the entrance of said bath and on the entrance side of said second roller, the other of said trays having a pipe for supplying fresh liquid thereto and a perforated bottom plate passing liquid to a delivery side of said second roller.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second roller has a covering of elastic material.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 1, having a guide member at the entrance side of said bath near said second roller disposed so that wool fibers are guided toward the bottom part of said second roller through a space between said conveyor belt and said guide member. 